


You Can Bet On Me

by Just_Another_Wolf



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: Dice doesn't know how to emotion, F/M, Flirting, Immorality, Manipulation (to characters other than reader), Reader is Sassy, Reader is human, Slow Burn, They work at a casino what do you expect, This is gonna get darker as it goes along :D
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-01-29 19:56:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12638079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Another_Wolf/pseuds/Just_Another_Wolf
Summary: Not many humans made their way to the Inkwell Isles, but you were one of those few. After landing a job at the Devil's Casino, you meet the manager, a handsome yet confusing dice.King Dice caught your attention but he's a difficult man to understand, and certainly seems against showing any type of emotions. You become determined to figure him out, to understand what intrigues you and draws you towards him... Neither of you expected feelings to come into play.





	1. A Beginning

You shuffled nervously in the seat, facing the poker chip man who was looking over your resume, without showing a hint of what was going on in his mind. You were looking for a job after travelling a long distance and ending up in Inkwell Isle, now needing money and a place to stay. After the way things had been at home, you'd wanted a new start far away and had ended up in Inkwell Isle, a place with barely any humans, making you stand out quite a bit. After arriving with only a suitcase, you'd quickly settled for getting a job at the Devil's Casino, and were currently sitting in the office for your interview, still carrying your suitcase.

Of course, there were rumours about the place, that it was less than legal, the bosses had questionable morals and treated their workers badly, but this didn't bother you as much as it should've. You felt a draw to the place, something you couldn't explain, and the rumours only increased your curiosity.

"Right, well everything seems ta be in order," the poker chip said, looking up from the papers. "Ya start tonight."

"What, just like that?" you said, surprised.

"We've got an empty place to fill," he said, shrugging. "And not too many people wanna work for the devil ya know?"

"He can't be that bad," you said quietly, more to convince yourself than anything else. The poker chip just gave you an almost pitying look.

"Anyway, here's ya uniform," he said, passing you a package. "And a key for ya room in the staff housin'. Look for Fee, she'll explain everything and get ya on your feet. Now scram."

You grabbed your suitcase and hurriedly left the room, blinking at the very sudden events. They really must've been desperate if they hired someone just like that. Either that or they didn't get much people wanting to work there in the first place.

You looked down at the uniform in your hands. They must've already been planning to hire you if they already managed to get a uniform that'd fit a human, no two people around here wore the same size clothes.

You started heading out of the casino, where you'd been on one of the upper floors not used for gambling. The main floor was filled with patrons of the casino, gambling away their money and souls. Hopefully not literally on the souls part, although in these parts you never knew.

The staff housing was back towards the main part of the isle, one building amongst the many. It was deceivingly large on the inside, you noticed as you walked in. Looking at the key, you realized it didn't even have a room number, how were you supposed to…

"Oh, are you the new employee?"

You looked towards the voice to see a cup standing there. Instantly you thought of the two cups you'd heard stories about, the troublemakers, but no, this one didn't fit the description. She was a girl for one, older than people had made the two cups out to be, and had on a green skirt which complimented the lock of blond hair extending from the top of her cup, against all logic.

"That would be me," you confirmed and her face lit up.

"Golly, well my name's Fee," she said excitedly. "Well, technically it's Kofee, yes I know, very creative, and no I don't always carry around coffee."

"My name's ______," you said with a small smile. "Are you by any chance related to—"

"Everyone knows those two cups of trouble," Fee sighed. "Yep, those little cups are my younger brothers. You'll probably see them around at some point." She paused. "Anyway, we'll be sharing a room! And I'll help you out on your first night on the job as a waitress!"

"Thank you," you said with a small smile, which she returned brightly.

"Well then, let's head over to start our shift!" she said, bouncing a little bit on her feet. "Have to get into our uniforms first though." Fee bounded over to the stairs, and you followed more slowly, not quite being able to match the surprising amounts of energy this girl had.

Fee led you into a room that had two beds, one side of the room clearly occupied and the other side probably belonging to you. She nudged you towards the bathroom after you placed your small bag of belongings down on the second bed. 

Once in there, you opened the package with the uniform. It was pretty simple, a short black skirtwith tights, a white button up shirt and a bowtie. You pulled on the clothing, which all fit snuggly, and walked out to greet Fee who had also changed. Her clothing matched yours, obviously being identical for all workers.

"Ready to go?" she asked cheerfully, and you nodded with a nervous smile. "Don't worry sweetie, you'll be fine. Dicey is a pretty nice guy."

"Dicey?" you repeated, confused.

"Don't ever tell him that we call him that," Fee giggled. "He'll have our heads."

"Who's—" you started, but Fee was already bounding out the door. You shrugged and followed her.

The two of you made your way back to the casino, and the sun was now setting on Inkwell Isle, meaning the casino was getting much busier. Fee led you confidently towards the back where the bar was, and to the side where the waiters and waitresses would get their trays and glasses from.

"Now," Fee started. "Our job's pretty easy. Carry drinks around, be nice to the patrons, and if you can trick more money out of them then the boss guys will love you."

"Uh, isn't that…I don't know, immoral?" you asked, more for the sake of keeping up appearances than anything else. In fact, the idea intrigued you, gave you a sense of excitement that you hadn't felt in a long time.

"Sweetie, this is a casino. Besides, even if you trick them, it's still them giving away their own money." She winked, and you just shook your head with a small smile. She reached over and grabbed two trays with a few drinks on them, handing one to you. "Just hang around by the tables, you'll be fine."

"Wow, you really give your new employees a lot of training," you said dryly and she giggled.

"Well we get a lot of free rein with our jobs," Fee said. "Dicey isn't as strict as you'd think." You raised a questioning eyebrow but she just winked ominously. "Well, good luck!"

"Wait—," you started, but she was already heading off. You sighed minutely, not knowing how you should act, if there was proper etiquette for talking to patrons or if you could say whatever you wanted. It seemed you were going to have to learn on the spot, so you started heading over to the 'tables', where some form of gambling was afoot. Duh.

You were a little awkward to begin with, but you soon got the hang of your job, settling into a rhythm. Walk around, pass out drinks, flirt with the patrons here and there, collect empty glasses and go get refills. Repeat. Time flew by as you got more comfortable with the job, beginning to feel like you were made to do this. You were smiling to yourself when a voice caught your attention.

"Why hello there."

You spun around at the sound of a deep voice behind you, seeing a man with a dice for a head standing there, regarding you with a curious expression. He was dressed _very_ nicely, in a purple suit, complete with gloves and a bowtie, and was standing up straight with his hands behind his back.

"Don't think I've seen ya around before," he said, a smirk settled on his face as if it was his constant expression.

"It's my first night on the job," you said, allowing a little bit of a flirtatious tone to seep into your voice. You had to make all the patrons like you after all, and this guy seemed like he had a fortune to spend at places like this. "Would you care for a drink?"

"Maybe later," he said. "What's ya name doll?"

"______," you replied, doing a little curtsey as a greeting. "And you sir?"

He paused for a moment, seemingly musing over something. "Most people around here know that." You narrowed your eyes slightly, trying to remember who people had mentioned. Something was nagging in the back of your mind, but you couldn't quite put your finger on it. "Well, I'd love ta stay and chat, but I've gotta casino to run." He turned on his heel and stalked off, leaving you a little confused. Running the casino? That was the manager's job…

You decided to just ask Fee about it later, not willing to let it distract you from your job. It was your first night after all, and even if they had hired you so easily that didn't mean they couldn't fire you just as easily.

You didn't see the dice again before the casino closed in the early hours of the morning, although you'd kept an eye out for him and that purple suit of his. He'd been different compared to most of the people you'd seen, he just had this air about him…it'd caught your curiosity. He was confident, comfortable and had this spark in his eyes, as if looking for mischief.

When your shift ended, you walked back to the bar where Fee was waiting for you.

"Heya!" Fee greeted. "How was your first shift? Still alive?"

"I think so," you replied, looking down at yourself as if checking. "Yep, still alive." She smiled brightly.

"Did anything out of the ordinary happen?" she asked. "Did you see the boss man around?"

"Considering I don't exactly know who that is, it might be difficult for me to say," you said flatly.

"He's sort of hard to miss," Fee said. "Mr King Dice, has a dice for a head, immaculate purple suit. I mentioned him earlier remember?"

"You mean…Dicey?" Realization slowly started to spread through your mind.

"Yep, but don't say that to his face."

You thought back to the dice man you'd met earlier in the purple suit…that could only be King Dice. And you'd treated him like just another customer.

"Yeah," you breathed. "I met him. He…didn't even introduce himself." 

"That's because everyone knows who he is," Fee said. "He'll probably come by later to greet you properly, he likes to keep all the employees in line."

"Should I be worried?" you asked, a little nervously. There were two ways this could go, he could punish you for insolence or let it pass. The former seemed like the more likely option.

"He's fine so long as you stay on his good side," Fee said, shrugging, which didn't really answer your question. "Now, let's head back shall we?"

\----------

The next day was spent simply trying to find your way around the staff building. It seemed that most people who worked at the casino lived there, save for the few that had their own place, or the really important people.

"Oh and there's some pretty nice places around the Isle too," Fee was saying as she gave you the tour. "I'll take you to meet my brothers are some point, I'm sure they'd love you."

"Kofee, I take it you're being kind to our newest employee?"

The two of you looked over at the interruption, seeing the immaculately dressed Dice standing there, his eyes trained on you.

"Yes sir," Fee said, her excitableness tamed down a little bit. "Just showing her around now."

"How are ya liking the place ______?" King Dice asked.

"It's great," you replied. "Although, some people were a little rude, skipping introductions and all…" You heard Fee choke on her breath beside you, but you kept you gaze on Dice, staring challengingly at him with a hint of a smirk on your face.

He simply stood there silently for a moment, regarding you with a blank expression. You thought you saw a hint of a smirk as he opened his mouth to speak. "My apologies. I'm Mr King Dice, manager of the Devil's Casino."

"And I've already introduced myself," you replied, but decided to be polite for good measure. "Pleasure to meet you sir."

He nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, I hope ya enjoy workin' for us. I'll see the two of ya at the casino." And he turned and left, just like he had the first time.

"He's very hard to get a read on," you muttered to Fee. "Like, does he have any emotions at all?"

Fee was just staring after him. "Honey, he likes you."

"What? What makes you say that?"

"He hates when employees talk badly to him. But he just let it slide for you, even though you said it to his face."

"Maybe because I'm new and he decided not to be harsh to the new girl?"

"He's fired an employee on their first day before, I wouldn't put it past him." Fee turned back to you. "Gosh, this is certainly a turn of events. Be careful around him okay? He's not known for being the most…moral person."

"Of course," you replied. Although…he still had your curiosity. And after failing to get a proper read on him and knowing practically nothing about the man, that had only made you more determined to learn more about him. The same thing that had pulled you to the casino seemed to be pulling you even more to King Dice himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we have it, the beginning of a King Dice fic...honestly I don't know, I played the game and he's just my favourite okay? xD I did have a bit of trouble with the characterisation of him in this, I rewrote it about three times before I was happy enough to post it...not much has happened yet, we'll get more into it in the next chapter ;)
> 
> Now, I've written quite a few fanfics, and it became a thing at some point to do this at the end of every chapter... *hands out cookies to everyone reading this* ^_^


	2. A Borrowed Shift

You managed to go a few days of work without running into the mysterious King Dice. Fee gave you a few more instructions on the job, like which specific areas each waiter and waitress had to stick to at one time. You usually ended up being given the slot machines to wander around since you were new there.

When you weren't working you spent your time exploring Inkwell. You hadn't strayed out of the isle yet, other than to go to "hell" as people referred to it, mainly because of Devil. On the one isle you'd met a few nice people: a mermaid, Cala Maria, and a couple of friendly ghosts.

You were hanging out in the room you shared with Fee when she came walking in. Or more like stumbling in.

"Are you okay?" you asked, immediately standing and stepping over to steady her.

"Not particularly," she murmured. "Think I've caught something. Gosh, I have to work tonight!"

"Nope, I'll take your shift," you said automatically, crossing your arms across your chest. She really didn't look well, with shadows under her eyes and a visible shiver.

"Golly, you're the greatest," she said, but without her usual enthusiasm. She stumbled over to her bed and fell down face first. One of these days you were going to question how the liquid didn't fall out of her cup when she did that.

"Which section am I working at?" you asked, sitting beside her and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, gently rubbing her in an effort to take away a bit of the sick feeling.

"Tables," she murmured, falling asleep. You nodded, then stood up. You left a cup of water for her on the table next to the bed and after quickly changing into your uniform you turned off the lights to give her some peace.

Working in an unfamiliar section was a bit daunting, but for the sake of Fee who was pretty much your only friend at the minute, you steeled yourself and headed off towards the casino.

You got there early, when the place was only filled with a small number of customers, and the waiters and waitresses didn't generally start for another half hour or so. When you headed over to the bar, a kind looking martini man looked up at you.

"Are you fillin' in for Fee?" he asked, and you nodded, taking a seat in front of him.

"She's too sick to work, I agreed to help her out," you replied. "Any suggestions for working her section? She said tables."

"Nothin' much different from anywhere else," the martini said. "Although, the people around there do happen to be big spenders though." You nodded absently. "If you want to get on the boss' good side, try to goad them into spendin' more." That caught your attention.

"You mean King Dice?" you said, eager to learn more about him.

"Yeah, he runs the place after all," the martini said. "Anything that's good for business, he'll praise ya for."

"So he's the type to put business before morals?" you asked.

"Absolutely. That guy doesn't have a moral compass at all. Right or wrong, doesn't matter so long as there's profit."

You nodded slowly, mulling over this in your head. This was interesting, and it struck a chord with you. Morals hadn't always been your strong suit, which was part of the cause that had pushed you away from your family.

You glanced at the time, realizing that your shift was about to start. So you bid farewell to the martini and headed off to work.

Working at the tables was quite a bit different from working at the slot machines, and the martini was right about these guys being big spenders. There was a variety of people, but some were really going all out in their bets.

You worked for a while, passing out drinks and collecting the empty ones, and allowing for a few brief conversations. Slowly, you began to realize that these people weren't just big spenders, but there was something almost predatory about some of them. Your uniform wasn't the most modest, what with such a short skirt, and you couldn't help but notice the way their eyes followed you. It didn't bother you too much, so long as they didn't actually try to touch you.

You were passing a drink to another patron as a flash of purple caught your eye. You looked up to see King Dice walking through the crowds, his hands clasped behind his back as he watched everything going on with a careful eye. Of course he would be here, he was the manager after all.

You continued about your job, but you kept within the vicinity of Dice, keeping a careful eye trained on him at all times as your curiosity was just too much. He had the same presence that you'd noticed last time, confident and mischievous. He would speak quietly to patrons as he carefully watched their game, goading them into raising the stakes and then disappearing before they realized their mistake.

You were handing a drink to a patron when you lost track of Dice. You frowned slightly to yourself, disappointed, but put your full attention back into your job.

"Spying on me, were ya?"

You jumped a little as you heard Dice behind you, and you put on an innocent smile as you turned around to face him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," you said as he looked down at you, his expression as hard to read as ever behind that smirk of his.

"I thought Fee was supposed ta be working tables tonight," he said instead of pressing the issue.

"She's sick, I'm just filling in," you replied.

"I see," he said. At that moment, another patron came over to you, and you quickly reverted back into serving mode, politely giving him a drink. You ignored the not so subtle attempt that he did of moving close to you, one of his hands rising to rest gently on your upper arm. All you did was step a bit closer to Dice as the patron gave you a predatory grin and a wink before stalking off.

You let out a barely audible sigh, expression troubled as you looked up at Dice. He was frowning slightly, watching the man walk away with careful eyes.

"Does that happen a lot?" he asked simply.

"It's usually more bearable than that," you muttered, wincing. "I just don't like it when they try to touch me."

"You should stick with me for a bit," he said, still frowning. "Can't have my employees getting harassed."

"I uh…okay," you said cautiously. He walked off without another word, not even glancing back to see if you would follow. But this was your boss, so obviously you did, pausing occasionally to do your job.

That's how the rest of the night went, Dice doing his usual rounds of talking to the important looking patrons, getting more money out of them when he could in a way that was actually unnoticeable to the untrained eye, while you kept within a short distance of him. You saw him politely goading a skeleton into going another round, all in, walking away as the skeleton did so and lost everything. The skeleton was obviously mad, and glared around to look for Dice, but you decided to step in.

"Better luck next time," you smiled, your voice low, sultry and hopefully distracting. The skeleton looked at you and you could see him slowly forget about Dice. You leaned slightly on the table of whatever game they were playing. "How about you try again? You'll never win if you give up now." And the skeleton took the bait.

You walked away as the skeleton dug himself into debt, looking around to see Dice watching you with a curious look. You walked over to him, a slight smirk on your face.

"Not bad," he said simply. This guy didn't speak much, did he. He gave you another look, almost a contemplating expression, and walked away before you could say anything. He fell back into his same pattern, goading the patrons, however this time he glanced at you as he walked away from one of them. It took you a few seconds to realize that he was testing you, seeing if you could play his game and manipulate the patrons even more so. You smirked slightly, because if there was one thing you could do, it was trick these poor patrons into playing King Dice's games.

This continued on throughout the night, flirting and complimenting customers to distract them from the severity of their losses. All you had to do was bite your lip and look innocent, and they fell into your trap with ease.

When the patrons started heading out in the early hours of the morning, you parted from Dice to officially end your shift. As you stood there wondering if you should go back and speak to him, you noticed that he made that choice for you, striding over.

"Ya certainly handled the patrons well," he stated, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Well it's just a bit of manipulation," you said, shrugging. "Not too hard. You're the one who angers them each time." Dice was silent for a moment, and for a second you thought he was going to snap at you for talking to him like that. He was your boss after all. But instead he only blinked it off.

"Where do ya normally work?" he asked instead.

"Over near the slot machines," you replied. "It's a bit boring honestly, compared to the tables."

"I'll look into that," Dice said mysteriously, his expression giving away none of what he was thinking at the moment. You tilted your head slightly at him, trying to figure out what was going on in that head of his. "Head on home now, ya did well tonight, ya deserve the rest."

"Thank you sir," you said, nodding your head slightly in acknowledgement. He nodded in return before striding away, leaving you watching him curiously.

He was still but an enigma to you. His expressions barely gave away anything, usually just being that ever present smirk. You thought over your interactions with him on your way back to the apartments, but there was nothing about his mannerisms that indicated actual emotion. But everyone felt something.

You walked into the dark room, seeing Fee asleep on her bed. You smiled softly at her before heading to wash up to go to sleep. Your thoughts drifted as you fell asleep…what was the draw that continued to pull you to King Dice?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I'd like to start by saying that I normally try to update anything I write within two weeks of the previous chapter at the most. This took much longer than usual coz I had my final exams at school, which was just stress in its purest form. But that's over now so ^_^
> 
> Gonna have a bit more character development of Dice in the next chapter :P Oh and I'm going to bring in the cups at some point :D
> 
> Cookie offering!! *passes out cookies*


	3. A Start to Progress

"You shouldn't be up just yet," you murmured, looking at Fee who was standing determinedly.

"I feel fine," she said, dragging out the word. "It's been three days sweetie, I'm good enough to go outside."

You sighed but relented. You'd been looking after her for the last few days to make sure she got better, seeing as she was pretty much your only close friend. You hadn't been working for those few days either, having been given a few days off after working consecutive nights.

"Besides, Dicey gets mad if people take too many sick days off," Fee said. "You don't want to be on his bad side."

"Why do you call him Dicey?" you asked curiously.

Fee shrugged. "Because we know he hates it. He knows we call him that when he's not around, but he just lets it happen."

"Really?"

"Yep, pretty sure he has some level of affection for some of his employees somewhere in that thick dice of his."

You thought back to every encounter you'd had with him. There wasn't any signs of affection there, you had no idea what Fee was talking about.

"Right," you said slowly. Fee glanced over at you.

"Oh is he doing the whole emotionless act?" she asked. "Honey let's go see him, I'll prove that he's just like the rest of us."

"I uh—" You were cut off by Fee grabbing your hand and rushing out the door. She dragged you into town, and then in the direction of the casino. "But we don't have work?"

"We _are_ allowed to be there when we're not working ya know," Fee said. She dragged you through the front door before letting go of your hand, letting you straighten up and compose yourself. "Alright, let's go find Dicey."

Instead of heading out to the main floor like you would've assumed, Fee led you to the elevators on the side.

"Why are we going up here?" you asked as Fee sent the elevator a few floors up.

"Because it's where we'll find him," Fee said. "We have free roam of this floor as employees, it's where some of us gather before shifts. And also where Dicey comes to yell at people."

The two of you walked into a large lounge bar area, where many people dressed in uniform were lazing around and chatting.

"Any of you boys seen King Dice?" Fee asked a group who were talking together.

"He's chewin' out poor Mr. Wheezy," one of them said. 

"Oh dear," Fee said with a slight frown. "What'd he do this time?"

"Somethin' about breathing flames at patrons who annoyed him," another chimed in. "It lost us some business, Mr Dice isn't happy."

"He'll be here in a few minutes," Fee said to you. You gave her a confused look but she didn't elaborate. She instead led you to the corner of the room and sat in silence.

You realized what you were waiting for a few minutes later when a door slammed open and an ash tray was thrown into the room. It landed and a cigar raised from it, who you assumed was Mr Wheezy, hopping away from the door. Dice walked out after him, fuming. He leaned down over Wheezy and muttered something too low for anyone to hear, and the cigar just nodded frantically before turning to ash and disappearing, probably reappearing somewhere else. Dice kicked the empty ashtray, scowling at it as it slid away. He glanced up and everyone who had just been staring at him looked away. Except you of course. He caught your gaze, the scowl fading away into that empty expression of his.

"______, come with me," he called across the room. Fee looked at you with wide eyes and you gulped before standing and walking over to Dice. He led you to the room he'd just come from, and you could feel the stares from your fellow employees on your back.

"Have I done something wrong sir?" you asked quietly as he shut the door behind you, walking over to lean on a desk and face you.

"'Course not," he said, a little surprised. "Why would ya think that?"

"You just literally kicked out an employee," you pointed out flatly. "Forgive me for not being optimistic."

He stared at you for a moment. "My apologies. I wanted to talk to ya about getting ya moved. How do ya feel about working at the tables, same place as Fee?"

"It didn't seem that bad a few days ago, I'm up for it," you replied, feeling a small sense of glee at being able to continue the manipulation game.

"The patrons to tend ta be a bit more difficult than what ya used to," Dice said. "I think you can handle it however."

"Then I'll do it," you said, shrugging as if this wasn't really that big of a deal and as if you weren't excited by the idea. Dice nodded, and there was a moment of silence in which his eyes felt like they were boring into you. "Anything else you need me for sir?"

"I am curious," he started slowly. "What brings a human like you to the Inkwell Isles?"

You shifted nervously. You had your reasons, but they were personal. "I wanted a fresh start, as far away from my old life as possible." It wasn't necessarily a lie. Dice nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. He gestured towards the door.

"You may go now," he said. You turned towards the door, but before you could think through your decision, you turned back towards him with a mischievous smirk on your lips.

"I 'may', but what if I want to stay?" you said, arms folded across your chest with slight tilt of your head. Dice faltered visibly for a moment, and in that moment you could actually read his expression, the confusion and curiosity, interest. And a second later it was gone, replaced with a small frown.

"Get out," he commanded, with no real menace behind the words, but you still obeyed anyway, striding out of the room and closing the door behind you.

Fee was waiting worriedly for you on the other side, and jumped over when you walked out.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Gosh I thought you were done for."

"Actually I think I broke him," you said, smiling smugly. Fee just shook her head at you with a small smile.

"Troublemakers," she said. "Well, guess we should get ready to work our shifts for today." You nodded in agreement, and the two of you started heading back to your apartment building.

\----------

You weren't surprised when you found out that Dice had in fact changed your area to the tables. Fee gave you a curious look and you just shrugged at her.

Your shift was at a bit of a different pace from your previous ones in your original quieter area, but you didn't mind. You chatted to quite a few of the patrons who seemed friendly enough, and you crossed paths with Fee several times. You quietly played the manipulation game, goading unsuspecting patrons into spending more, and simply flirting your way out of any trouble.

What eventually caught your attention was not Dice like you were silently hoping for, but instead two small cups running around like they weren't supposed to be here. You frowned and walked over to where they were trying to enter a game of…something, you didn't know.

"Excuse me boys," you said, smiling down at them since you were quite a bit taller than them. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Joining the game," said the one dressed in red, gesturing to the table. The one in blue pulled on the red ones arm.

"Cuphead we shouldn't be here," he said quietly.

"Aw come on Mugsy, be a little fun."

You sighed at the two, and they looked back at you. "Would you two like to come with me? I won't lead you out of the casino, I promise." The two looked at each other and then back at you, and Cuphead nodded.

You led them straight to Fee.

"Aww no, ratting us out to our _sister?_ " Cuphead whined as Fee caught sight of them and walked over. Mugman looked happy to see Fee, and hugged her quickly.

"Just what do you two think you're doing anyway?" Fee asked, her hands on her hips as she looked at the two.

"We just…got lost!" Cuphead exclaimed.

"Uh huh," Fee said, not convinced. "Head home now before…" She trailed off, her eyes on something behind you. You turned around and saw King Dice approaching, a less than friendly look on his face as he looked at the cups.

"Dicey!" Cuphead exclaimed with a smirk. "How have ya been?"

King Dice glared down at Cuphead as Mugman nudged Cuphead to try to get him to stop. The look on his face sent shivers down your spine. You hadn't had any reason to be scared of him yet, but the anger in his expression was definitely showing why people felt that way. "Mind explaining ta me why these two are in here?" His voice was strained, as if forcing himself to remain polite.

"I was just sending them off now," Fee said quickly, a hand on each of the brother's shoulders. She looked…protective, almost fearful. And the look on Dice's face, you could only imagine what had happened between them. "I'll uh, I'll escort them out." Fee pushed the two younger cups in the direction of the front door, much to their annoyance, leaving you with Dice.

"What was up with that?" you asked him. He turned his glare on you, a scowl spread across his features.

"Why are ya just standing around, get back to work!" he snapped, and you flinched visibly. He turned away and stalked off, leaving you to stand there feeling a little bit hurt and a little bit scared.

You went back to work but your heart wasn't really in it. You saw flashes of Dice through the crowd as you worked, but you just frowned slightly and stayed clear of him. His lash out had been a bit sudden, but you hadn't done anything wrong. There must've been another cause.

You met up with Fee at the end of your shift, and she looked at you worriedly. "Sorry to leave you with Dicey like that."

"He snapped at me a little," you muttered.

"Yeah…he doesn't get along well with my brothers. The two of them…well they sorta beat him up once."

You turned to Fee with a look of surprise. "Really? Those adorable little things?" So there was a story behind this, that had to be the reason.

"Well it's a long story," Fee said. She looked behind you. "I think Dicey wants to talk to you." You turned around to where Dice was standing, seemingly waiting for you and Fee to finishing talking, which was surprising on its own. He normally would just walk over and interrupt. "Well, I'll leave you for now, see ya back at home!" She bounced off and you just scoffed slightly at how easily she left you with him after what had just happened. You walked slowly over to King Dice, who looked up as you approached.

"______," he started. He looked a bit sad…no, more like regretful. "I wanted to apologize for snapping at ya earlier. You hadn't done anything wrong."

"It's fine," you said, but he looked a little hesitant. "Everyone has bad moments sometimes." He still looked hesitant, which you found interesting. He'd been so…blank before today.

"It was still outta line," he said.

"Dice, it's okay," you said with a reassuring smile. His eyes narrowed for a second on the use of his name instead of the usual 'sir'. But you didn't really care about the possible consequences.

He took a breath. "If you say so. You should be headin' home now."

"Yeah," you said, starting to walk away while still facing him. "Guess I'll see you during my next shift."

"Yes," he said slowly. "I'll…see you then." You gave him a smile and a small wave before turning and continuing out the door. You ignored that odd feeling in your chest and the slight sense of achievement at having figured out a little more about your strange boss.

But…it didn't feel right to think of that as just an achievement. You glanced back at the casino. You'd been trying to find the right word for that expression he'd had…you could almost describe it as vulnerable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, finally some actual emotions from Dice. But he's not just going to let the reader into his life that easily ;)
> 
> I've taken a sudden liking to digital art (since I now have a proper tool to do it with), I may draw what I imagine Fee to look like :P
> 
> *passes out many different types of cookies* COOKIE OFFERING


	4. A Day Out

A couple of days passed, and during your shifts you saw Dice but never had the chance to speak to him. Normally you would hang out with Fee during the day, but she went to visit her brothers one day, leaving you alone. You decided to explore the Isles a little more, and threw on some nice clothes before heading out into Isle 3.

The buildings were all tall here, some shops, some apartments, and many ones that you just couldn't tell what they were. One seemed to be a bee hive actually, which made sense considering you'd seen bee people around the Isle.

You got a few stares as you walked around, which is what came with being human in a place like this. You looked away from most of them, feeling a bit self conscious. Being the odd one out wasn't really anything new to you, but this was different. They weren't looking down on you, they looked…curious. This wasn't something you knew how to manage.

You went to a few of the stores, grabbing a few small items that weren't anything of much use, but they looked pretty. You got some new clothes too, some more casual clothes, and a couple of really nice dresses. One in particular fit you perfectly, highlighting all your best features. You decided to save that for a special occasion.

What surprised you was when a small group caught your attention in one of the shops. Two little devil minions, a skeleton, and hanging back behind them, King Dice. The other three appeared to organizing something with the manager of the store, maybe some stock for the casino, but Dice just looked bored.

Before you could think any better of it, you walked over and stood next to King Dice.

"Looks like you're having a hell of a time over here," you said, and he looked down at you, startled.

"Yes, a charming time," he replied, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"What a shame you'll have to leave them to conduct other business with an employee," you said, smiling cheekily at him. He looked at you for a second, eyes narrowing. You just threw him a wink before backing towards the entrance. "Take it or leave it."

A moment later he was following you out the doors, away from the minions that had now started bickering amongst themselves. The moment the two of you were out of the shop, Dice sighed with relief.

"Why were you stuck with those guys?" you asked, curious. "Aren't you a little high in the business to be running errands?"

Dice frowned, annoyance showing in his expression. "Boss forced me to. Since I'm just his good for nothin' lackey."

"Oh ouch," you said, wincing. "Sounds like a jerk." Dice muttered something under his breath which you didn't catch all of, but it sounded like he said something about cups…odd. "Why don't you quit?"

"It ain't that easy," he said. "The Boss has a lot of power, it'd be stupid to cross him."

"But if he treats you badly…" you said, trailing off and Dice directed his annoyed look at you. You frowned. "Fine, it's your life anyway."

"Where are you headed?" Dice asked, looking away with the sudden topic change.

"Nowhere really," you said, shrugging. "I was just looking around. Was thinking of heading over to Isle 2, that seems like a fun place."

"In that case I'll be leavin' ya," Dice said, turning to walk away.

"Wait!" you said suddenly. He looked back at you and there was a moment of silence as you figured out what to say. Even you were surprised at your sudden outburst. "Well…I don't have to go over there, and I mean, do you really want to go back to the Devil just yet?"

He looked at you for a second, his eyes searching your expression. "What do ya suggest we do then?" he finally said.

"I guess we could just walk around," you said, shrugging. "Unless you have any bright ideas." Dice just shook his head and started walking, glancing back to see if you were following. You did so, and the two of you fell into silence as you tried to come up with a conversation topic.

"So uh…how'd you end up working for the Devil?" you asked eventually, cringing at your awkwardness. It was different talking to him outside of work.

"He helped me out once," Dice said. "I was in his debt, so I paid him back by running errands for him."

"And you're just going to do that forever?" you asked. "I'd say your debt is paid."

"It ain't that simple," he said, a slight tinge of annoyance to his tone. When he didn't elaborate, you just shrugged it off, and he turned the conversation around on you. "Why'd ya come to Inkwell for a fresh start?"

"The people here are different from back home," you said simply with a small frown, not wanting to elaborate.

"Why did ya decide to work at the casino?" he pressed.

"It was easy to get a job there," you shrugged, before smirking. "Plus it means I can actually use some of my skills." He looked down at you and you winked before elaborating. "Entertaining I mean, I'm good at keeping customers entertained."

"I see," he said, such a talkative guy he was. He seemed to be considering something for a moment before something caught his eye and his face went blank, looking straight ahead. You looked over at where he had glanced and saw some people giving him odd looks…

You looked around and noticed that most people were reacting the same way. They were giving Dice this strange look, a look of dislike and scorn. It was different from the casino, where everyone knew that King Dice was the one in charge, the one with power. People respected him at the casino, but not here.

You looked over at Dice, this time noticing how he looked different than how he would at the casino. His posture was stiffer, less relaxed. He seemed wary of his surroundings, cautious. There was no sign of the usual spark of mischief in his eyes.

"Do people not…like you?" you asked him gently. He seemed surprised at the sudden question, glancing over at you oddly.

"They tend to think I cheat money outta people," he replied. "I ain't taken too kindly to by most."

"Cheating is different from persuasion," you muttered. "It's just business, they shouldn't actually hold it against you."

"If I weren't your boss, you'd act the same as them," Dice pointed out, with a slight scowl.

You scoffed. "If you weren't my boss, I'd be flirting with you." His head shot up as he looked at you with slightly widened eyes in an unreadable expression. And…wait a second, was he blushing? There was the slightest purple tinge to his cheeks. 

Damn that was adorable. 

There was a moment of silence and you realized Dice was still staring at you. You looked down at your feet quickly. You could deal with his smirk, but that wide eyed expression left you feeling nervous. "But you are my boss, so…" you said, shuffling your feet.

Dice still didn't move, so you figured that you'd pretty much broken him. Maybe people didn't actually flirt with him that often. In fact, you weren't even sure people treated him like just another person all that often.

You decided to just keep walking, letting the topic drop. Dice continued following you, his expression eventually falling back into the blank steely look. When your feet touched something soft, you looked down to notice the sand at your feet. You hadn't realized that they two of you had gotten so close to the beach already.

The beach was quiet, peaceful and mostly empty. There was a pier stretching over the water, so you immediately started to head out in that direction, then turned to see Dice standing by the edge of the sand. He was looking around at the beach unsurely.

"Oh come on," you said, walking back to grab his hand and pull him onto the beach. His hand was bigger than yours, and warm, which you pretended not to pay too much attention to. You noticed immediately how out of place Dice looked in his immaculate purple suit on a sandy beach. You smiled a bit to yourself as he frowned at you but continued to follow you to the pier.

When you got to the pier you sat down on the edge, hanging your feet down over the water. Dice hesitantly sat down beside you, still seeming out of place and mildly uncomfortable. A few passerby's were giving him weird looks, more confused looks than the dislike he'd been receiving before, most likely due to just how out of place he looked.

"Who cares what they think about you?" you said, frowning back at the people giving them odd looks. "If they don't take the time to actually get to know you and therefore make stupid assumptions, then that's their own loss.

"That's…kind of ya," Dice said quietly, not sounding convinced. You sighed.

"If it makes you feel any better, I know how you feel," you said quietly with a sad smile. "The only difference is I ran away from the people who treated me that way." He looked over at you, his expression unreadable. You didn't meet his gaze, instead looking out over the ocean at the sun that was touching the horizon.

Seeing the way people treated Dice, you couldn't help but think of your own situation at home. The way people had scorned you for the way that you were, had looked down on you for doing nothing except be yourself.

Next to you, Dice was still watching you with a curious expression. You couldn't tell what he was thinking, couldn't tell that he was trying to figure you out in the same way you were trying to figure him out.

"Anyway," you said eventually, standing up. "You'd best be getting back to the casino. If the suns setting then business is about to get busy."

"You're right," Dice said, getting to his feet. There was a touch of lingering awkwardness between the two of you, but nothing too major. "Are ya working tonight?"

You nodded. "Tonight and then the day shift tomorrow."

"I'll walk ya back to the apartments then," Dice said. "Assuming ya don't have your uniform with you."

"Nope," you replied. He nodded and then started walking, waiting for you to fall into step beside him. It didn't take long for the two of you to make it back to the apartments.

"I'll see you at work then," Dice said, hands clasped behind his back in that polite way of his.

"See you there," you said, and he turned to walk away. "And…thank you." He looked back at you, confused. "For spending time with me today. I know I can be…a bit much sometimes." You trailed off, looking down at the ground.

"It was my pleasure darlin'," Dice replied, before turning and continuing to walk off, not seeing the wide eyed look you gave him as he walked away, at the use of the word 'darling'. After a few moments of stillness, you turned and walked into the building, still a bit dazed.

\----------

Your shift went by quickly. You crossed paths with King Dice several times throughout it, and were relieved to see the tenseness from earlier was gone. He looked much more comfortable in the casino than in the Isle. Each time you passed him you gave him a small smile, which he replied to with a polite nod.

By the end of your shift you were exhausted, and wanted to head home and sleep but you had to wait for Fee first since the two of you normally walked together. When she didn't arrive immediately you wandered around the casino, looking for her.

What you found instead was the stage, where performers came to entertain the patrons of the casino. There was a girl up there now, singing. You hadn't seen her around before, and she appeared to be human. But what really caught your attention was the type of performance. Flirty to a slow but intense song, strong eye contact with the audience, lip bites and a slow rocking side to side of her hips. You were hit by an urge to be part of that, to get up on the stage and do just what that girl was doing.

As you were entranced by the performance, you didn't notice someone come up behind you and tap you on the shoulder.

"You were off in a world of your own there sweetie," Fee said. "Want to get up on that stage?"

"What? No!" you shut down her suggestion immediately, to which she only giggled.

"You've absolutely got the stage presence for it," she said. "Try it sometime, I'm sure Dicey will be happy to let you." She grabbed your elbow and started leading you towards the exit. You noticed as you walked that King Dice was standing near the stage, and that he was watching you curiously. As you caught his gaze he looked away, back towards the stage with that thoughtful expression he often had.

"By the way," Fee said. "What's up with you and Dicey? Don't think I haven't noticed the looks."

"It's nothing," you said quickly. "We just hung out today."

"Dicey doesn't 'hang out' with people," Fee said. "See, from the start I told you he liked you."

"Maybe he just likes me because I treat him like just another person," you muttered quietly, and Fee didn't hear you, instead giving you a confused look which you just waved off. "Anyway, I'm tired, let's go home."

"I second that," Fee said, and the two of you headed back to the apartments to finally get some rest after a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realized that having Fee around all the time was making it difficult to let the reader have their own personality...so, chapter without her so much :P And some development between Dice and Reader, it's going a little bit slow but I have plans I swear :P
> 
> Cookie offering!! *hands out wonderful cookies*


	5. A Bad Work Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note before this chapter for anyone who read the previous chapters before I posted this one.
> 
> I did a bunch of editing, which mostly just consisted of a bit more added detail. The large thing I did change though was the gender of the reader. Previously I'd been writing her as gender neutral, but I've changed everything to having her as female. I was struggling quite a bit to write gender neutral, and I'm sorry if this change disappoints anyone.

It was during your next shift that you couldn't help glancing over in the direction that you knew the stage was. You wondered if you could ask Dice if he could let you perform up there some time. The two of you were…well you were something, you weren't exactly sure what, but he did seem quite tolerable of you so he might let you try.

"Honey, pay more attention." You looked up at Fee, who was passing by with drinks on a tray. "I know Dicey likes you but he won't make exceptions if you keep this up."

"Yeah I know, sorry," you muttered, putting your attention back into your work.

You walked over to a poker table, handing out the drinks you'd been delivering to a skeleton who was smirking at his cards. You decided it was time to play the manipulation game, smirking to yourself before turning your smile into something sweeter.

"That's a pretty good hand you've got there," you said lowly to the skeleton, so no one else could hear. You leant down a little further, put a hand gently on the skeletons shoulder. "Don't you want to bet a little higher baby?" He looked at you, his eyes dark and intense before smirking and raising his bet. You smiled innocently and straightened to walk off into the crowds of people, disappearing from the skeletons view.

"Hey you." You turned to see a patron watching you.

"Yes sir?" you said with a misleading innocent smile. You found that that's what they liked the best, the appearance of being completely innocent in a place like this.

The guy, not human but you didn't really know how to describe him, walked up beside you, right into your personal space. Your smile dropped a bit. "Pretty girl like you, what are you doing later tonight?"

Wow, at least some guys were subtle about their blatant attempts at hitting on you. You kept the smile on your face.

"Just going home after a long shift," you said, praying the guy would leave you alone. You got the opposite, as he slid closer to you, putting a hand on your hip and pulling you closer to him.

"How about you come home with me baby girl?"

The smile dropped off your face instantly, replaced with a harsh scowl. "Get your hands off me before I break them." The guy looked taken back at the 180 change in attitude, but didn't back off.

"Feisty," he said, with a predatory smirk.

Nope. You lunged out quickly, grabbing him by the wrist and twisting his arm around by it. The guy let out a cry of pain as you twisted his arm further than it was supposed to go.

"I won't warn you twice," you growled. "Hands off." You let go of him, and he jumped back, rubbing his wrist and scowling.

"I'll be speaking to your manager about this," he snarled.

"I think you'll find her manager is on her side."

Both of you looked to the side to see King Dice standing there with a harsh frown on his face as he looked at the guy.

"Now," Dice said, stepping closer to the guy before snatching the guys collar, pulling him up off the ground. The guys hands rushed up to try to pull Dice's hands away, his feet kicking as he struggled to get out of his hold. You looked a little closer and noticed Dice's eyes change from their usual black to a vibrant green, making him appear much more dangerous than before. "I suggest ya get out of here while ya still have the free will to do so."

Dice dropped the guy who landed unsteadily on his feet before rushing out in the direction of the entrance. Dice watched him go, before turning his gaze on you, his eyes back to their original black.

"Are ya all right?" he asked, taking a small step towards you. There was a small frown on his face, and there was a slight touch of concern in his expression.

"Fine," you said. There was a pause. "Thanks for getting him out of here."

"Looked like ya had the situation under control already," Dice said, with what looked quite like his usual smirk, but just a little closer to a smile. "Will ya be okay to keep working?"

"Of course, this isn't too far out of the ordinary," you replied, and Dice frowned, pausing for a moment in thought.

"See me in my office after your shift," he commanded, before briskly turning away and walking off into the crowd. You tilted your head in confusion at his sudden exit, wondering what exactly he wanted to see you for. You didn't think it was anything bad, which left you curious. It was so hard to guess the intentions behind his spontaneous actions.

After you headed back to work, the night progressed as usual. There wasn't much more bad harassment from anyone, but there were the usual looks. The looks didn't bother you at all, in fact they left you feeling quite smug that you could draw peoples attention in that way.

At the end of the shift, you headed to the elevators and rode it to the same floor Fee had taken you that day Dice had gotten mad at Mr Wheezy. You knew that wasn't Dice's main office, but it was where he dealt with most employees.

You knocked softly on the door, and heard Dice's voice saying "Come in," from the other side. As you opened the door and walked in, you realized you weren't the only one who had been called to his office. Fee was there, as well as several other waitresses of all different types, all dressed in the same uniform you had on. King Dice was standing behind his desk, his hands placed flat on the surface as he looked at the small group of about five waitresses.

"First off, none of ya are in trouble so stop giving me that look," he said, looking towards the waitresses who you didn't know. You noticed how they were all avoiding eye contact with him, shrinking into themselves to appear smaller. At his words they relaxed a bit, but were still tense.

"I just wanted to ask if any of you have been gettin' harassed by our patrons," Dice continued. You bit your lip and looked down as you realized that this must be about what happened today. Fee glanced over at you, before speaking up.

"Not much, sir," she said. "Flirting is common, but most don't try anything past that."

"I've never had them try to touch me like they do to ______," one of the other waitresses chimed in, and you looked up in surprise.

"What do you mean?" you asked before Dice could comment.

"They like her because she's human," another one of them said. "She's different, 'exotic'."

"Oh and because she flirts back like the slut she is."

There was a beat of silence.

"Excuse me?" you growled, glaring at the waitress who had made the comment, who looked similar to Fee except that her head was shaped more as a wine glass. She looked back at you defiantly. "Say that again, I dare you."

"Oh you know it's true," she snapped. "You hang yourself off half our customers trying to trick them into giving more than they want to give. If you're having problems with harassment then it's your own fault for acting like a prostitute." You were scowling deeply, about to snap at her when a card flew across the room, perfectly aimed to cut across her arm. It wasn't deep enough for lasting damage, but it definitely looked like it would hurt.

The wine glass yelped in pain, looking down at the cut on her arm as the card fluttered to the ground. Everyone else in the room turned to look at King Dice, who was standing with one hand flat on the table, the other holding a deck of cards. His eyes were the same vibrant green as you'd seen when he threatened the guy who had harassed you earlier.

"Get out," he growled to the wine glass, who just looked at him with incredulous eyes. She glanced over at you and looked back at Dice, before scoffing.

"Oh of course, aren't you two just perfect for each other," she muttered, cradling her injured arm with her other arm.

" _Get out,"_ King Dice repeated. "And don't bother coming back." She just scowled and walked out of the room. As the door shut behind her, the waitresses turned to look back at Dice, whose eyes were now back to black. "I don't tolerate infighting between employees. There's nothin' wrong with flirting with the patrons. Does anyone else having somethin' to say?"

No one spoke a word.

"Good," Dice said. "Now, go home." As you all started filing out of the room, Dice spoke again. "______, stay here."

You made eye contact with Fee, who was looking confused and sympathetic. You just gave her a small thumbs up of reassurance before the door closed behind her, and you were left in the room with Dice.

"Should I…tone down the flirting?" you said hesitantly into the tense silence spread between the two of you.

"Do ya want to?" Dice asked, surprising you. He was your boss, you weren't supposed to have a choice in what your job entailed.

"Well…not really," you replied, thinking back to the thrill of messing with people. "I just don't like it when they think that means they can harass me."

"Then don't tone down the flirting," he said. "It's good for business anyway. The other girls could learn something from ya."

"I get the feeling they don't want to," you muttered. Dice frowned at you.

"Since when does what they think matter to ya?"

"I moved here to get away from people like that," you snapped. "I just wanted…" You trailed off, catching yourself before you said anything further. "Why'd you fire her anyway?"

"I don't tolerate infighti—"

"Please, you have to know that your employees fight with each other all the time. So why'd you fire her?" You looked straight into Dice's eyes, watching as he looked taken back, before hesitating.

"She obviously didn't understand flirting came with the job of being a waitress at a casino," he said, his words slow and careful. "People like that have no place here."

His answer sounded forced, half-hearted. You didn't doubt that it was partially true, but it felt as if there was something being left unsaid between the two of you, that you were both dancing around a topic that neither of you wanted to touch.

"Anyway," he broke the silence. "Seein' as you're the only one being bothered by patrons, I'll move ya to a different section." You pouted. The tables were the best part, the rest of the casino was pretty mild in comparison. "I've seen ya eyeing the stage after your shifts." Your eyes lit up instantly. "You'll be carryin' out the same job over there, most people will be too focused on the stage to bother ya." Your expression dropped.

"So…you're taking away my chance to get people to bet more?" you said, frowning. He'd started that whole game with you, and now he was ending it?

"Not exactly," he said, smirking. "It ain't easy to make big changes instantly. I need ta find a new waitress, and then we'll see how ya do with performing. Havin' someone like you on the stage will really draw in the crowds."

"Someone like me?" you said, smirking at Dice challengingly.

"Ya know exactly what I mean, now get out," he said, his voice slightly amused and accompanied by a small smile.

"Sure thing Dicey," you said with a wink, before turning and leaving before you could even see his reaction to the use of his hated nickname.

That also meant you missed the soft purple tinge to his cheeks as you left.

\----------

"Sweetie are you going to explain what the hells going on?"

You'd gotten home to your shared room with Fee, and she had immediately started bombarding you with questions.

"Someone got too touchy during my shift, that's why he called a bunch of us in," you explained.

"But why'd he go all evil on that girl?" Fee asked. "She certainly deserved it but that was unexpected coming from him."

"I asked him the same thing," you said as you went and flopped down onto your bed. "He just said people like her have no place here."

"There must be more to it than that," Fee said, jumping onto her own bed and sitting cross-legged, facing you. "So what happened between you two after I left?"

"He's moving me to work at a different section," you said. "Over by the stage." Fee paused.

"Oh honey, he's giving you exactly what you wanted," she said. You sat up and stared at her. "I told ya he liked you."

"No it's not that, we're just…" You hesitated.

"Girl, can't you see?" Fee said. "It even explains why he fired the waitress, he was being protective of you."

"Why would he be protective of me?" you asked. "There's no logical reason, he's my boss and we talk around work but that's it."

"Except for that one day you 'hung out'," Fee pointed out. You thought back to that day, of your walk with Dice around the isle. Yes it had been a bit awkward but…

It dawned on you then, as you remembered your conversation with him that day. Remembered the way people had looked at him, and what you'd said to him, that he shouldn't care what they thought of him. It was almost the same as what he had said to you just before, as the girl treated you the same way people had been treating him. You were the degenerates of society who nobody cared to get to know before they judged you.

He was protective of you because you two were similar. You were drawn to him because you two were similar.

"______? You've been quiet for a while now," Fee interrupted your train of thought softly. "Whatever you were thinking about, I think you should at least try to be friends with Dicey. Heaven knows he needs it."

"Yeah…" you murmured, still lost in your thoughts.

"And don't take what that girl said to heart," Fee continued. "You and I know it's not true, Dicey probably knows it too. You're a good person." You looked up at Fee, offering her a soft smile.

"Thanks Fee," you said quietly, and she shot you a wide smile in return.  You let your thoughts travel back to King Dice. If you two could just clear up that awkwardness between you, say everything that you'd kept unsaid, you probably would get on remarkably well.  It was just a matter of actually talking to him properly for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been...well pretty much a year since I updated, and I'd like to apologize for that. I had a rough year, and lost a lot of motivation for writing, but I'm getting back into it now :) If you're still here, then thanks for waiting this out
> 
> By the way, happy 2019 everyone, I hope this year brings happiness for everyone <3
> 
> Also, does anyone think my chapters are too short? I type it out on my laptop first and copy it over, they always look shorter here than they do when I write them. Are they an okay length?
> 
> Cookie offering!! *hands out everyones favourite flavour of cookie*


	6. A Proposal

It was early evening when you were called to the casino the next day, a couple of hours before your next shift. Living in the casino apartment building made it easy for them to contact you on short notice. You headed over, already in your uniform since it would be easier to go straight to your shift after whatever you were being called in for.

You went to the second floor like you'd been told, the same one you'd gone to for your interview before you got the job. King Dice was waiting there, along with the poker chip guy that had done your interview.

"______," Dice greeted. 

"Evening sir," you said, keeping up professionalism since you two weren't alone.

"We've got some people comin' in for interviews for the new waitress or waiter position," Dice said. "I want ya to help Chipper out." The poker chip beside him glanced at you with bored expression.

You raised an eyebrow. "Why?" As soon as you said this, Chipper looked at you with wide eyes, and then at King Dice. You'd forgotten how much Dice supposedly hated being talked back to, according to all of his employees.

"You're the best waitress we've got, I trust ya to find someone…better than our last employee," Dice said, his voice hard as he mentioned the waitress he'd fired yesterday. You simply nodded, a gesture that he returned before walking off to do manager stuff probably. You turned to Chipper, who was standing there looking shocked.

"How did you not just get a beating?" he asked incredulously.

"I got on his good side," you said with a shrug, before heading off towards where the interview room was. Chipper followed behind you, still in shock. By his behaviour it seemed that he'd gotten on Dice's bad side more than once.

Chipper explained that he was hiring someone to start that night, just like he had with you, which meant he'd keep all the interviewees there and announce his decision to them after all the interviews were done.

Chipper called the first interviewee in, and you just sighed immediately at the sight of him.

"Cuphead, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Just trying to get a job," he said, smiling in a way that was supposed to be innocent, but you could see the mischievous intent behind his eyes.

"You're a kid, get out," you said, before Chipper could even say anything. Cuphead immediately frowned grumpily, before walking out of the room.

"Damn, I woulda hired him just ta bother the boss," Chipper said. You glared over at him.

"Maybe if you hired good employees instead of going on stupid reasons like that, Dice wouldn't have to keep firing them," you sassed. Chipper gaped at you, his gaze slowly turning angry, but you called in the next interviewee before he could say anything.

In the end there only actually ended up being three people trying to get the job. Two of them looked like they didn't really want to be there, as if they'd gotten desperate in looking for a job. They looked terrified of simply being in the interview room, and you just frowned. You couldn't hire people like that. The third was a human, a guy probably around your age. He had purple hair, and looked a little shy if anything.

"So why do you want the job?" Chipper asked, sounding more bored by the second.

"I need the money," the guy said. "No where else would hire me."

"Why not?" you asked.

"Oh, my dad's a madman scientist and everyone is secretly afraid I'll be like him and completely ruin their business with some weird invention."

There was a beat of silence. "Well, are you like him?" you asked, as Chipper narrowed his eyes.

The guy shrugged. "Kinda, I mean I need the money to buy parts to build stuff, but I'm not going to blow up the world or anything."

"What did you say your name was again?" Chipper asked.

"Most people just know me as Kahl," the guy said. "But uh, my actual first name is Kai.

"You're Dr Kahl's kid," Chipper said. "Right."

"Can you flirt?" you asked.

"Didn't know this was that type of interview baby," he smirked, throwing a wink in your direction.

"What kind of a question…" Chipper muttered while glancing at you. "Okay fine, go wait with the others and I'll discuss things with my associate here." Kai nodded and left the room.

"So," you said, looking at Chipper, who glared at you.

"I think we hire the second one, seems the least likely to fuck us over," he said, and you frowned.

"No, come on those first two were terrible. Kahl's the best option here."

"In case you've forgotten, I'm the one in charge here," Chipper snapped. "You're just some waitress girl."

"And in case you've forgotten, King Dice chose me personally to help you," you countered. "I don't think he'd take too well to hearing that you completely ignored my judgement." Chipper gritted his teeth, glaring at you before giving in.

"Fine," he snarled, shoving his papers towards you. "You go hire the guy. I need a drink." And with that he stormed out of the room. You smirked briefly before heading to where the interviewees were waiting.

"Hey there," you said, smiling at them. "Unfortunately we can only hire one of you, and Kai got the job." The other two literally sagged in relief, making you frown slightly as you watched them hurriedly leave. Kai smiled at you, a sweet smile that briefly made you hope that this place wasn't going to eat him alive.

"What happened to the poker chip?" Kai asked. You shrugged.

"Who knows, who cares," you said, leading Kai back into the office. You looked around quickly and found the stuff you were supposed to give him. You picked up a package, quickly glancing at the label to make sure the uniform was the right shape and size for him. "Alright, this is your uniform, and you start tonight."

"Thanks," Kai said. "Uh…any instruction to what my job actually is?"

"Uh…" You hadn't thought this far ahead, you were only supposed to be helping out. Maybe you shouldn't have gotten snappy with Chipper. "Look for Fee, she's a cup about my height, blond hair, very smiley and upbeat." Kai nodded. "Well, I'll see you later I guess. Shifts start in half an hour, clock in at the bar downstairs, and that's where you'll find Fee."

Kai nodded again. "Thank you." He smiled before heading out of the room. A few moments later you followed, intending to head down to get ready for your own shift.

You weren't expecting to see Dice in the hallway, clearly waiting for you.

"Sir," you greeted, and he raised an eyebrow at you. It took you a second to realize that the two of you were alone in the hallway, so you dropped the professionalism, smiling instead. "Dice. What's up?"

"I came to see how you were goin' after I found Chipper drinking on the staff floor," Dice said, looking at you expectantly.

"Oh…" you said sheepishly. "Uh, he was going to hire someone not great for the job so I argued with him a bit. He left." Dice was silent for a moment and you braced yourself slightly. You didn't think he'd be mad, but you had been out of place in acting out against Chipper.

"I trust your judgement more anyway," Dice said, shrugging and not making eye contact with you. You were surprised for a moment before smiling at him.

"Thanks Dicey," you chimed with a sweet smile. His eyes instantly shot to you at the use of that hated nickname. This time you didn't run away from his reaction, too curious about what he'd do.

"I…your shift is startin' soon, scram," he rushed to say, looking frustrated, and this time you didn't miss that purple tinge on his cheeks. You smiled gleefully, before giving him a small wave and a wink as you turned to leave.

Maybe that nickname wasn't as hated as everyone thought it was.

\----------

Your shift was irritating in the new section. It was a bit more actual work of bringing drinks to people, since the area was set up as a sort of cabaret, with tables set up for people to sit and drink at while the performance happened. None of them actually paid much attention to you, instead having their full attention on the stage where a young looking girl was currently singing. She was a bit boring to be honest, not really entrancing the audience.

Time passed slowly, and on more than one occasion you found yourself hanging by the bar watching the performer because there was simply nothing else to do. It wasn't even the same bar that Fee would be at, so you had no chance of talking to her during the shift.

You sighed, and the bartender, a short glass of what looked like whiskey, looked at you with sympathy.

"Not used to the slower paced sections of the casino?" he asked.

"Definitely not," you said. "The tables were fun, this is…boring."

"Ah well, I'm sure Mr King Dice will fix that for ya soon," he said. You glanced at him. "Seeing as he has a soft spot for you and all."

"I…what?"

"Word gets around pretty quickly here, and word is that he likes you," the whiskey glass said. "He fired the last waitress for you didn't he?"

"I mean, he didn't do that for me," you argued. "She wasn't acting…professional."

"Neither do you," the glass pointed out. You frowned at him for a few moments, realizing that he was kind of true. Sure it was a different type of acting unprofessional, but it was true.

"Anyway," the glass said. "No one really cares, some of us are happy for King Dice to have a friend. But do you think you could ask him to sing his theme song again sometime? He'll be more likely to listen to you."

"His theme song?" you asked, leaning on the counter as your interest sparked.

"Yeah, we're not sure how it originated, but he has a theme song. He used to sing it here every once in a while, but after the whole drama with the cups he hasn't really done it since."

"I'll see what I can do," you said with a small smile, already wanting to hear Dice sing. Something else in the sentence caught your attention though, the 'drama with the cups'. You still didn't know the full story of what had happened with them that caused all the rumors.

You turned your attention back to the stage, noticing that the performer was thanking everyone for being there, meaning it was nearing the end of your shift. As all the patrons started leaving the area, a flash of purple caught your eye, and you looked to see Dice wandering around, making sure everything was running smoothly as he normally did. He glanced over at the stage area and made eye contact with you, to which you gave him a small smile. A second later he was heading in your direction, weaving through the people that stepped out of his way anyway, as if creating a path for him.

"Heya Dice," you greeted, leaning back against the counter of the bar. 

"Did anyone bother ya this time?" he asked, straight to the point.

"No, but the whole shift was kind of boring," you replied, pouting a bit. "I can't flirt with anyone if no one wants to be flirted with."

"You'll be able to do plenty of flirtin' when you're up on the stage," Dice said. "If ya can sing, that is."

"You've been offering me a chance to perform without even knowing if I could sing or not?" you said, smiling in amusement. Dice didn't even react, he seemed to be getting more tolerable to your cheekiness.

"Get up there and sing something for me darlin'."

This stopped you in your tracks, and you just blinked up at him with wide eyes. He stared right back, and as silence fell between the two of you, you became aware that it was also silent in the room. The last of the patrons were gone, the whiskey bartender must've left sometime after Dice got there, and you were alone with Dice.

"Okay," you breathed, before repeating yourself with a stronger voice. "Okay." You headed over to the stage, walking up the steps and to the middle where the mic stand was still set up. Dice stayed a few metres away from the stage, watching you carefully with an unreadable expression.

"No backing music?" you said cheekily into the microphone, hearing it echo throughout the room. Dice just raised an eyebrow at you, prompting you to sing. You took a deep breath as you quickly thought of a song, before closing your eyes, putting both hands on the microphone and opening your mouth to sing.

It was a slow song, similar to the style you'd heard the other performers doing. You stayed perfectly in tune, holding the notes for just the right amount of time. After a few lines you opened your eyes to look at Dice, a slow smirk spreading across your face as you saw him watching you intently. You started swaying your hips in time to the imaginary beat, dropping one of your hands away from the mic. You let the song take over, letting seductiveness seep into your voice as you sang. You bit your lip, tilting your head to the side and backwards so that you were looking at Dice through your eyelashes.

The next verse started and you pulled the microphone off of the stand, sauntering to the front of the stage with slow deliberate steps. You noticed that Dice took a step closer to the stage, and you smirked a bit more. You slowly lowered yourself to a sitting position while still singing, letting your legs hang off the edge of the stage, smirking more as Dice walked closer to you, stopping when he was right in front of you. As you got to the last line in the song, you let the final note draw out, hanging in the air between the two of you. Then silence fell, leaving you smirking at Dice as he stared back intensely, the height of the stage putting the two of you on eye level, with him standing so close that he was almost brushing up against your legs.

Dice seemed to be frozen, and you just smiled as you waited for him to do something. There seemed to be a slight purple tinge to his cheeks, and his green eyes looked dark with some sort of emotion.

Wait, green eyes? You stared right into his eyes, they were definitely the same vibrant green they'd been when he'd gotten angry in the past. You tilted your head slightly, smirking as you noticed this, because he certainly wasn't angry now so what else could it mean?

The silence drew out and you realized Dice seemed to be in some sort of trance, so you decided to break the moment.

"So," you said, smiling cheekily. "Do I get the job?"

This snapped Dice out of the moment and he took a step back, looking away for a moment before looking back with his usual black eyes. "Yes. You'll be startin' as a performer tomorrow, but ya might still need to do some of the waitress shifts. Do ya have something nice to wear?"

"Of course," you purred, remembering the dress you'd bought on the same day you'd seen Dice in the Isle.

"Good," Dice said, before glancing around almost awkwardly. "It's late, you should be—"

"Dice," you interrupted, frowning a bit. There it was again, the instant distance that he put between the two of you whenever you started acting like friends. "Come on. Are we ever going to talk about this?"

"I don't know what ya referring to," he said, but his eyes avoided yours.

"You fired someone for me. You moved me to a different section to specifically stop harassment against me. You're letting me on the stage even though I'm just a waitress. You tolerate me talking back to you when you would fire others for doing the same." You paused, as Dice now looked directly at you with an unreadable expression. "Why?"

"Go home ______," he said, his voice hard. Your frown deepened.

"No, come on," you said gently. "No one else is here Dice, it's just me." You kept watching him as he clearly started to struggle, conflict crossing his expression before he finally sighed and met your eyes again.

"Because you're like me," he said quietly. "You understand the things that I do, and why I do them. People would normally call me morally corrupt but…you just agree with me." He paused. "You're not scared of me."

A smile had started spreading across your face as he spoke, not your usual smirk or cheeky smile, but a real one. "You're right, I agree with you," you said. "And you understand me too." You paused, pushing yourself off the stage as you did so that you were standing in front of Dice. "So, do you think we could be friends instead of some awkward boss tolerating his annoying employee?"

Dice paused for a moment. "Yes, I believe we can be," he said, and you caught the small smile that was tugging at his lips. Just a small but genuine smile. You beamed at Dice in return, that smile was the best, but also most real, expression you'd ever seen on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *clearly tries to seduce Dice and then asks to be his friend* Gotta love my logic
> 
> Ahhh I had a lot of fun writing this chapter :D And I'm looking forward to upcoming chapters because I've actually written a plan for the story, which I didn't have before.
> 
> Anyone know some songs that the reader could sing?
> 
> Cookie offering!! *hands out fantastic cookies*


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